Garden of Fate
by Heavenfire Hellfury
Summary: three characters get to choose their futures in a garden ruled by the three fates
1. Default Chapter

Lalala I don't own yu yu hakusho Lalala and the story that inspired this, well, I read it years ago, can't find it, and don't remember the title. So I don't own that either. In fact the only thing I own in this story would be my fates. They aren't anyone else's. So there. Nyah nyah. So here goes. Basically, Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama get a chance to decide their future. But there's a catch. So read on. If you dare, of course.  
  
Garden of Fate Chapter one: Meeting the Fates  
  
A rose garden, small, well tended. So many varieties that the most learned rose-gardener would have caught their breath in awe. An archway covered in roses was the only passage. Three women stood outside the awning. One, child-like. Wide, innocent eyes, ringlets of burnished gold, honey, kissed by the sun, even in the moonlight. Wearing a loose, ruffled skirt, top covered in bows and embroidered in flower buds, and rising suns. Cherubic, she held all the potential of the future.  
The next, sweet sixteen, long reddish-brown tresses, wind blown and wild. A loose top of gathered fabrics beads for decoration. Opened roses of iridescent beads covered her long skirt, slit up the sides. Caught between two worlds, all the energy and sparkle of youth, slowly gaining the wisdom of the world, she seemed to live for the here and now, the present.  
And finally, hair in elaborate braids laced with flower petals. A full blouse, long sleeves and draped skirt, lace emulating the beauty of fallen rose petals. Raven hair offset the pale wisdom of her face. She held all wisdom of the past.  
In the silvery moonlight the bobbing lights over their heads reflected off of their white raiment, made them seem angels of immense beauty. Finally Future spoke to the three assembled, child's voice happily addressing the confused spirit detectives.  
" Tonight you will walk in this garden. Once there, you may choose you fates. By smelling each rose you can see a bit of a possible future. However, you must remember that if you break a stem, regardless of whether you wanted that one or not, it is yours. Also, once chosen, a gate may have consequences you will not see. You will have all night. Only one may go in at a time." Future's sister Present spoke next.  
"Your first decision of the night. Who is to go first? Follow me." She turned to go, and Kurama hesitantly followed after.  
"What do you think it will be like Hiei?"  
"Who knows?"  
" When Koenma told us that it time to meet our fates, I didn't expect this." They turned to the silent Past and relived the day before. Kurama still had not entered the rose-bedecked awning.  
Botan had shown up early that morning, for once very solemn. Without a word she took them to Koenma, looking as if they horrible of meetings. Her only words, before they entered Koenma's office were strange and out of place.  
"It is wiser not to choose at all. You will only seal your own doom. For everything you see, there is a flip side, and unseen addition. Some sacrifice just isn't worth it." A single tear crawled out of her secret heart as she ushered them into Koenma's presence. Koenma greeted them solemnly.  
"You three have done well in the years you have worked for me. And now you have been sent for to meet fate. It is a huge honor." Then they outside the rose garden greeted by the fates.  
Kurama took a deep breath and entered the garden. 


	2. kurama's choice

Lalala I don't own yu yu hakusho Lalala and the story that inspired this, well, I read it years ago, can't find it, and don't remember the title. So I don't own that either. In fact the only thing I own in this story would be my fates. They aren't anyone else's. So there. Nyah nyah. So here goes. Basically, Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama get a chance to decide their future. But there's a catch. So read on. If you dare, of course.  
  
Garden of Fate Chapter one: Meeting the Fates  
  
A rose garden, small, well tended. So many varieties that the most learned rose-gardener would have caught their breath in awe. An archway covered in roses was the only passage. Three women stood outside the awning. One, child-like. Wide, innocent eyes, ringlets of burnished gold, honey, kissed by the sun, even in the moonlight. Wearing a loose, ruffled skirt, top covered in bows and embroidered in flower buds, and rising suns. Cherubic, she held all the potential of the future.  
The next, sweet sixteen, long reddish-brown tresses, wind blown and wild. A loose top of gathered fabrics beads for decoration. Opened roses of iridescent beads covered her long skirt, slit up the sides. Caught between two worlds, all the energy and sparkle of youth, slowly gaining the wisdom of the world, she seemed to live for the here and now, the present.  
And finally, hair in elaborate braids laced with flower petals. A full blouse, long sleeves and draped skirt, lace emulating the beauty of fallen rose petals. Raven hair offset the pale wisdom of her face. She held all wisdom of the past.  
In the silvery moonlight the bobbing lights over their heads reflected off of their white raiment, made them seem angels of immense beauty. Finally Future spoke to the three assembled, child's voice happily addressing the confused spirit detectives.  
" Tonight you will walk in this garden. Once there, you may choose you fates. By smelling each rose you can see a bit of a possible future. However, you must remember that if you break a stem, regardless of whether you wanted that one or not, it is yours. Also, once chosen, a gate may have consequences you will not see. You will have all night. Only one may go in at a time." Future's sister Present spoke next.  
"Your first decision of the night. Who is to go first? Follow me." She turned to go, and Kurama hesitantly followed after.  
"What do you think it will be like Hiei?"  
"Who knows?"  
" When Koenma told us that it time to meet our fates, I didn't expect this." They turned to the silent Past and relived the day before. Kurama still had not entered the rose-bedecked awning.  
Botan had shown up early that morning, for once very solemn. Without a word she took them to Koenma, looking as if they horrible of meetings. Her only words, before they entered Koenma's office were strange and out of place.  
"It is wiser not to choose at all. You will only seal your own doom. For everything you see, there is a flip side, and unseen addition. Some sacrifice just isn't worth it." A single tear crawled out of her secret heart as she ushered them into Koenma's presence. Koenma greeted them solemnly.  
"You three have done well in the years you have worked for me. And now you have been sent for to meet fate. It is a huge honor." Then they outside the rose garden greeted by the fates.  
Kurama took a deep breath and entered the garden.  
  
CHAPTER 2 I own nothing. wahhhh! See what you attorney people have done to me! You've ruined my self-esteem. Not like there was an overload to begin with, but that's beside the point. So the previous disclaimer and this one still stand. Just try and sue me now *this * is thoughts. ~This~ is a future, from the roses, duh. So let's begin shall we?  
  
Kurama's Choice  
  
*So many roses. Where to begin? * he strolled around the garden, gazing at the delicate blossoms that could, did, hod his future. Finally he settled on a blood red rose and carefully inhaled its scent. All at once, like he was living it, the future hit him. ~Successful, powerful, good-looking. who could ask for more, Kurama thought. Well a life for one, he answered himself. The possessions, money, material wealth, he was deprived of the one thing he longed for.~ Kurama pulled away. Definitely not that one. So how about a small, delicate purple one?  
~A little voice called out. "Daddy, Daddy!"  
"Yes?" a small girl with his red hair and her blue eyes smiled up at him. "Daddy, look what I can do" all at once she had a small rose shaped flame dancing across her finger tips. Kurama paled. With her mother gone, how could she learn to control the power that had destroyed her mother, his one love.~ No! Not that one. Steadily Kurama sampled each rose. He saw, lived, died, loved, hated, was part of everything anyone could imagine but none satisfied him. Then he looked down. Hi coat had caught one of the roses and pulled it off the bushes. Knowing this was his future in his hand, he raised it to his face and inhaled.  
  
Past spoke " He has chose." She intoned. Both thought it had the sound of terrible destiny. 


	3. Yusuke's turn

Chapter 3: sorry for the long wait people. my talents have been in other fields for...a ong time. but hey, here it is. I know everyone is waiting with baited breath to find out what terrible thing i did to our lovely Kurama, so here we go...  
  
Past spoke "He has chosen" she intoned. It had the sound of terrible destiny. Future chimed in, her child's voice a strange counterpoint to Past's wieghty proclaim

"You will meet again when everyone has chosen. " She turned to Yusuke and beckoned him forward. He took a deep breath and walked into the garden, and for once the sweet smell of roses did not speak to him of happy times, and bright summer days. Somehow, faced with destiny and fate, he was no longer the confident Spirit Detective, but an awkward teenager. He edged carefully down the paths, sampling the roses as he went.  
  
In the gazebo at the end of the rose garden, Kurama sat pondering his "choice". he inhaled the rose's scent again,hoping it would show something new. But again he experienced the same vision...  
  
_...Kurama walked slowly down the path, hand in hand with his fiancee. they were raidiantly happy, their joy glowing from them for any and all to see. Their joy was made all the more because she had already accepted Kurama's past; all of it, including Yoko. in fact, she was a kitsune herself. It was only a few days until their wedding, and at itmes like these Kurama could almost forget the sadness that always came when he thought of his mother. She would not be attending the wedding. But this was not because she was dead, oh no, it was nothing so simple as that. A week ago he had told her his past and his secret. She had learned that he had, in part, decieved her all these years. In fact, it was the story of the Forlorn Hope that even made it possible that she might talk to Kurama agian. His kitsune bride-to-be had advised he wait, told him that a mother's love would win out over any feelings of hurt or deciet. But so far there had been no word, and he was begining to wonder...  
_  
Kurama shook himself of the vision, wishing that things could go otherwise. He was joyful, yes. He had always felt that mabye he would never find a someone that would love him for more than his face, and by this was proved wrong. But the loss of his mother, not by death, which he could accept, but by choice...that was almost too much to bear. But his future had been chosen and there was no turning back. He firmly decided to focus on the lovely woman he would marry, and ignore for now the pain that would someday be caused by the truth.  
  
Hiei waited patiently, his mind already made up. The futures in the garden might be tempting, but there was only so much it could offer. There were stories within stories in those glimpses of the future, and no one could know everything. So when it came time to make his choice...well, the choice had almost been made from before he was sent here.  
  
Yusuke paced, experiencing much of the overwhelming-ness of the garden that Kurama did. There were a few that looked interesting, some that appealed, and a few that Yusuke jerked back from in terror. He had almost tore one of these off the bush once already, and had no wish to do so. Several times he married Keiko, in some she died in his arms. There were children or there weren't. Friends lived and died. He even saw going back to the Dark Tournament, the fifth place filled by a lithe female kitsune who seemed to be married to Kurama. But none of the called to him, as he had determined that it should. Finally, in a small, hidden corner of the garden, almost covered by weeds, he found a small, blue rose. It was the only one of it's kind he had seen so far. Yusuke eagerly bent down to smell it, and the vision hit him with more force than any of the others...


	4. Final Decisions

Garden of Fate

Chapter 4

So here we are. This may or may not be the last chapter. Who knows? I certainly don't. Anyway, I think I might press myself to finish it here. So read on, gentle friend, read on. And remember, nothing is as it appears...

Final Decisions

...the vision hit him with more force than any of the others. It felt as if he were actually there, not just an onlooker from the sides. And another difference; this came in two parts. The other visions had shown him one time, and no later dates. This gave him two time frames. The very implications set his head spinning...

_Spirit world, but not the huge, dark halls of Koenma's palace. This place was a room in a temple, larger than the halls of the palace. Large windows let in the ethereal light of Spirit World, and small creatures of magical origin danced in the sunshine that came from nowhere and everywhere at once. Bright banners and long garlands of flowers covered the walls, and it seemed there was no corner not floating in a pool of incense from the braziers devoted to the five elements. Kuwabara stood at Yusuke's side, dressed in robes in festive colors. Yusuke was likewise dressed, as were the rest of the guests. Kurama and his kitsune wife sat close to Yukina and Hiei, who for once wore a slight smile on his face. Koenma presided, with Genkai helping in the ceremony. Yusuke's heart was ready to bus. As Keiko, dressed in a long flowing gown with exquisite embroidery, and beaming like the sun, walked in He felt that he would die right there and be happy. Today he married Keiko, having finally earned the right to say he was master of his skills, and sure of whom he really was. Koenma started the wedding as Keiko came close and held Yusuke's hand..._

..._years later. Yusuke's oldest son and oldest daughter were preparing for their first real mission alone. It broke his heart to send them, and Keiko had fought desperately against it, but it was part of the deal. As demons found that the Spirit Detective had children, liabilities, they would have been attacked constantly. Koenma made Yusuke a deal: train his eldest children in what was now the 'family business' and he would protect the family. So they agreed, and now he felt as if he was sending his fifteen-year-old twins to their deaths..._

Yusuke stumbled back and shook his head clear of the vision. All in all, he thought, the vision was fine. Of course the pain of sending his children away would hurt, but there was happiness. He bent over and took the rose, but the pain In Keiko's eyes as their children walked into the portal to demon world hung heavy on his heart, and he wondered what would happen to them...

Back outside the garden Past spoke her words again, the intonation somehow sad this time. But this time, before Present could send Hiei into the garden Future chimed a prophesy in her child's voice. "No choice can end well. Making no choice is a choice in itself. Beware fits of temper." Her sisters turned their heads toward Future, shocked that she would give advice before someone entered the garden. Never before had this happened, and the mild warning must hold immense portent for Future to break precedence and speak out. Hiei held his head high and turned a disdainful glare on the sister. "Keep your advice to yourself, seer. I do not need your veiled advice." With that he walked into the garden, leaving the three alone with the mist.

Yusuke followed the path out of the garden and found Kurama. No words passed between them, only a look of mutual understanding that both had sacrifices to make, and both knew it would be that much harder to make them when the time came. Their feet had been set on the path and there was now no turning back. Almost as one they sat, watching the exit from the garden and almost hoping that Hiei would come out without the burdens they now carried.

Hiei wandered among the roses, fuming. In every future shown either himself or one of the people he refused to say he cared about was dead, or worse. He saw Yukina tortured in a million different ways and lived to survive those same horrors, only to wake up screaming in the nights following with the guilty nightmares. In a few he killed her himself, whether it was in pity or self-preservation. Sometimes he massacred all his friends in a fit of rage that seemed to bubble out of nowhere. Worse yet he could not vent his rage because the roses were so close that he could not even draw his sword without cutting several off at once. Then, from that anger came the solution. He slowly drew his sword and held three rose stems in his hand...

Present began to cry, seeing what Hiei did and unable to stop it. Future huddled and cried child-like tears. She could not see into his future now. All was clouded, and hidden from her sight. Past only sat and anticipated what was to come, not knowing and not seeing.

Hiei drew back the sword, knowing that he would have to slice all three at once or risk having taken a future. Quicker than the thought that made it happen, he swung the sword down, and the blade cleared the stems all at once. The garden disappeared, leaving him in the gazebo with his friends, holding all three roses. Slowly, they disappeared and became one rose, one single destiny. His companions watched with fearful eyes as he raised the rose to his face and inhaled it's delicate scent....

Yusuke played in the sun with his twins, five years old and playing a harmless game of 'catch the demon'. Keiko had long ago ruled out the Rei guns in play, so they had to settle for water guns as they hunted their father. Keiko watched from the porch, chatting idly with Kurama's kitsune wife about their mutual pregnancies. Kuwabara and Yukina were away on their honeymoon and Kurama was visiting his mother. A few feet away, nestled beneath an old cherry tree sat Hiei sleeping. Cuddled in his arms was a tiny babe, whose face closely resembled her mother's face, and already exhibited a childish control over the Jagan eye that passed itself from father to daughter. Life was good, and the pains and burdens were often brought up, but never troubled their minds for long. Fate had for once smiled on the group, an every one of them was grateful for it.


End file.
